


Shelter

by orphan_account



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Gen, i guess, just kazemaru being nice, this lacks sense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-13 01:25:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18458603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kazemaru never refuses when someone asks him for help.





	1. a synonym for flamboyant

**Author's Note:**

> I'm feverish and thought too much about that scene at the park in the GO game.

Kazemaru Ichirouta opened the door of his apartment, heard his friend instantly begin to mutter almost incoherent things and let out a sigh.

“Don’t you have a rich boyfriend to ask for help in situations like these?”

“Two things.” began Fudou “First, Kidou isn’t my living wallet, nor I rely on him for everything. Second, rich ex-boyfriend is a more appropriate term.”

Kazemaru doubted both things. Maybe he was too nice, and maybe, that was the reason Fudou Akio came to him and not someone else to ask for shelter. Kazemaru looked at the sky, it seemed like a nice day in weather terms, he could tell his friend to go look for another person to bother, Sakuma surely wouldn’t mind, nor would Fuyuka. But asking any of them would probably mean too much shame for him.

Then, Kazemaru thought being nice wouldn’t kill him, and stepped aside from the entrance.

“Get in before I change my mind.” Fudou smiled and picked up his luggage bags.

“You’ll miss me when I go.”

“Sure I will, _Nanny McPhee_.”

Usually, Fudou never laughed when he told a joke, it was different this time. Kazemaru liked his laugh so perhaps living with him for a while wouldn’t be too bad. On the other hand, Kazemaru hated living alone so, deep inside, he knew there was no chance of him rejecting Fudou’s plea. Probably Fudou knew that too.

 

* * *

 

 

Kazemaru wasn’t worried. Bothered, would be a better word.

He discussed with Fudou in the morning because the brown-haired guy was lazing on his job search, since last week. In all truth, it was sad that being professional football players did allow them to live fine, but not having actual matches meant not getting paid for their daily efforts of keeping diets and exercise routines. And they weren’t Gouenji, nor Kidou, nor Endou; the real Inazuma legends who got their names all around the world and, thanks to publicity, were allowed to laze about almost everything out of the football field. When they reached that topic on their morning conversation, Fudou got mad, because public image being “an important thing to maintain clean” was the reason Kidou decided it was a good idea to give them some time. Right at the same time, Fudou’s inversions in a new sports clothing brand proved to be a bad idea.

Kazemaru commented he could always try to explain that to Kidou and things for him could get better since Yuuto wouldn’t lose time in offering help. Fudou assured he didn’t need that help. Kazemaru said that it didn’t seem like it since he got fired from his part-time job and didn’t have an apartment anymore because he stopped paying it when Kidou invited him to live in his mansion.

Really, no one likes being reminded of their mistakes. And it didn’t take long for Fudou to explode in a rant of fake apologies and sarcastic remarks to make Kazemaru feel bad, or retract, and obtained both things. But then, Ichirouta committed the mistake of joking, to try to brighten up the atmosphere.

Fudou took his keyset and went out of the apartment. Without a word.

That was mean, and Kazemaru felt so offended he didn’t even try to call him back. With the passing of hours, he forgot about the incident and thought he should apologize with his flatmate so, when night drew stars in the sky, he began to prepare a homemade dinner in place of calling delivery like they usually did.

At ten, there still weren’t signs of Fudou getting back home. And dinner was ready.

At midnight, Kazemaru still wasn’t hungry and decided to put all that he prepared in various plastic containers, that way when Akio came home he would just need to heat the “leftovers” if he was hungry.

Around two, Kazemaru found himself watching an old movie on TV, he didn’t particularly like it, but it was better than other channels. Ichirouta tried, but couldn’t get sleep. He wasn’t worried for Fudou not being home yet, the guy was an adult after all, so he could do as he pleased. But Kazemaru was bothered because he didn’t even get a message or a call; Fudou had his spare keys; and because of him, a particularly good smelling dinner went cold and no one enjoyed it.

He wanted to punch that hobo so bad.

Kazemaru was about to fall asleep on the couch (also known as Fudou’s bed) when the door opened. The TV emitted enough light as to make it unnecessary for the brown-haired male to turn on the ceiling lights. But although Akio could probably see him, Ichirouta didn’t really get a good view of his friend.

There were no greetings. The door was closed and Kazemaru heard steps getting closer, the guy smelt like fancy wine. When Fudou sat by his side, Kazemaru was ready to hear the usual “Get to your room, or I´ll use your bed.” but that never came.

“What are you watching?” the question was stupid, both of them knew the series that finally replaced the movie. There was just no chance of him not knowing about that series.

“Okoshiyasu Chitose-san.” he answered anyway.

“ _Chitose-chan._ ” and got corrected by the penguin lover. It was one of Fudou’s favorite shows.

“That.” Kazemaru also enjoyed the show, not for the baby penguin’s adventures, but for the reactions it used to get from Akio, they were unusual, silly and cute on their own flamboyant way; Ichirouta learned long ago that Akio was made of pure flamboyancy “And, where have you been?” because of his smell, Kazemaru could guess it already, but him being back at the apartment wasn’t a sign of everything going alright. If Fudou went to see Kidou, he would’ve stayed the night with him in place of getting back at almost three in the morning.

“I was on the park.” that wasn’t uncommon, but Kazemaru didn’t buy that napping on a bench or under a tree was everything he did the entire day. Under his persistent stare, Fudou had to continue “I was on the park and met with Kiyama, he treated me to lunch, and we settled to meet later. So I went back to the park.”

“I haven’t seen him in a while.” of course, Kiyama could also offer people fancy wine.

“I know.” Fudou said with a smile “We got to eat dinner, and he invited me to his house to play chess. I have no idea why I agreed but, during our match, he offered me a job.”

“Really?!” Kazemaru almost jumped out of the couch.

“Yes, really. But he was tipsy already, so I told him to call me in the morning if he was being serious about it.” Akio left his right side crash onto Ichirouta’s shoulder, obviously tired “Maybe I’ll stop bothering you soon, aren’t you happy?”

“Of course I’m happy for you!” Fudou choose not to comment on that affirmation, and Kazemaru was grateful for it; they both got to learn that Kazemaru loved not being alone in that apartment his parents gifted to him “What job did he offer?” but he knew he couldn’t tell Fudou to stay in his place forever, and really wanted to be happy for him.

“Saginuma seems to have _left free_ an important position in the marketing department, and they don’t have the right people to fill it.”

“He quit?”

“More like disappeared. You know, just like _he_ did.” Kazemaru nodded.

It was a thing all their group of friends agreed to do: refer to Gouenji as “he” or “him”. It was not a topic any of them enjoyed and, since his retiring from the field, any press that got in contact with them was desperate to obtain information about why a legend would decide to go MIA during the best period of his career. Bad luck that they didn’t know much either. Probably Kidou and Endou did but refused to speak.

Not coming up with something else to speak about, they just kept watching the muted show on TV until they fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

“You know, you don’t need to do this every weekend.” since the second time, Kazemaru always said the same thing when Fudou showed up in his flat with a backpack.

“It’s not like you mind. And I brought popcorn.” partially, that was always Fudou’s answer, although he never brought the same thing to eat twice.

When things between Yuuto and Akio got better, and the latter got back to living in the Kidou family’s mansion, Fudou still went to see Kazemaru every Saturday and stayed to sleep that night proclaiming that sharing a bed with Kidou six times per week was more than enough for both of them, and that he missed the sofa. Once claimed that he would only stop when Kazemaru got himself a girlfriend or a boyfriend.

“Get in.”

Smiling, Fudou stepped inside. Sometimes, Kazemaru thought that maybe Akio was nicer than he thought himself to be.


	2. a synonym for fragile

“So,” Kazemaru tilted his head “you are going to give me a free pass at least, right?”

“Of course I will.” Fubuki Shirou was blushing and smiling towards nothing, one or two cans of beer made nothing to him, but two bottles of sake were a different story.

Kazemaru barely drank a glass of sake and felt his skin hot already. Luckily Shirou was still able to maintain a conversation, but Ichirouta didn’t think he’d remember it later. It was okay, Shirou never gave free passes anyway, no matter how much any of his friends insisted, saying he was too shy of them looking at him on the ice field. Regardless of that, Kazemaru always wanted to assist to one of his skating presentations, but it was difficult, considering Fubuki never shared with them where nor when he’d present.

“Very well then.” Kazemaru settled their conversation “I’ll clean this up and leave you to sleep.”

Shirou nodded, looking at him with amusement. He was too cute for being so close to turning twenty. The groups of fangirls he was usually surrounded by, did have high standards.

Kazemaru threw away the bottles and cans, and went back to his living room to find Shirou already resting on his sofa, apparently asleep. He decided that the glasses upon the table could wait a little bit. Wondering once again, why his friend choose to go visit him in place of staying at some hotel like he used to do when he had appointments in the city.

It was also unusual of him wanting to get drunk. More because his high tolerance meant he needed to consume enough alcohol as to don’t want to wake up for the next two days, only to get a bit wasted. Kazemaru told himself he should wake up early to go buy some painkillers, and aspirins, and citrus.

Finally, Ichirouta knelt to pick up the glasses from the table, but when he tried to stand up and go, a couple of hands rested firmly on his shoulders, stopping him.

“Won’t you stay with me?”

Kazemaru left the glasses back on the table and turned around, Fubuki was begging him with his big sad-looking eyes. He chuckled.

“Sure.” both of them knew Kazemaru was not going to offer his bed to a drunk person after the incident with Someoka on his goodbye celebration “Make some room.”

“Thanks.”

It took them a couple of minutes to accommodate, but finally, Kazemaru took the position of the big spoon on the edge, partially because he didn’t want Fubuki to occupy that space (in fear he could fall), and partially because Shirou never liked to be the big spoon. Kiyama, who was his roommate on most training trips, clarified that to him a couple of times (that couple of times in which Kazemaru got to be his roommate).

“Is there any particular reason?” regardless of being used to sharing his space with Shirou, Ichirouta never missed asking. Because sharing a space was one thing everyone could do, but not everyone wanted to hug that person they were sharing it with.

“News said there could be an earthquake tonight.”

“Oh. Yes, I remember.” and he put all his delicate things inside his closet for that very reason in the morning “You won’t notice it.” news also said it was going to be a small one.

“I know.” Fubuki was pressing a cheek against Kazemaru’s forearm, so it sounded muffled.

Even though he still wanted to share a small sofa with someone else because he was scared of being alone during it. Even when most hotels were prepared to don’t get damage from earthquakes, even when he was too drunk as to be able to do anything on his own if something did happen. Kazemaru breathed out, remembering how fragile Fubuki could be regarding certain issues.

“Nothing’s going to happen.” Ichirouta ruffled his friend’s hair and left a soft kiss on his forehead.

“I know.” he repeated, with more confidence, and bumped his nose against Kazemaru’s, making both of them laugh.

 

* * *

 

 

Three days later, Kazemaru found in his mailbox a ticket for a show on ice.

He smiled.


	3. a synonym for untold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that game scene in which Tenma chooses the wife? It is so completely wrong.

Endou’s wedding came unexpectedly. Rushed. Everyone had to look for suits and gifts in record time since the invitations were delivered two days before the event. It was a small wedding, for what it could have been; only Raimon players and some related friends, aside from the couple’s parents, of course. It was like a reunion of friends, simple (without the usual luxury Natsumi was surrounded by), and filled with people talking about what they were doing lately.

All that Kazemaru expected while spending seven hours searching for a good tailor and a “decent” gift (press cameras, important people related to Raimon, even fans of their teams), blew away when he entered the gardens of Mr. Raimon’s summer house.

“They wanted too different things, this is Endou’s wedding.” explained the director “We completely forgot to add that on the invitation cards, the gifts will get stored for their second wedding. Natsumi wants something big, on the city, and during the night.” both, Raimon and Kazemaru looked up at the bright sunlight that showed through the clouds.

“I see.” it made him breathe with more ease, and all the nervousness he kept and grow inside him the last two days, climbed off his shoulders “They will have a long road to go through.”

“It seems like.” Mr. Raimon took his gift “I’ll go store this, you go and enjoy this day too.”

Alone, Kazemaru looked around the garden. It was big, and everyone was seated in different groups, Endou and Natsumi were sitting by the fountain, without fear of their clothes getting wet or dusting their immaculate white; they were laughing with Aki and…

“Can’t be.” Kazemaru told himself, but after looking for a little longer, he was sure, it was him “Rococo.” he couldn’t help but smile, it had been years since they shared a field, and it meant that Mamoru’s grandfather was around somewhere… With the parents, there he was, drinking wine as if it was water, his daughter deadly worried by his side.

“Oi! Kazemaru!” Ichirouta looked around tho catch who was calling out for him, some raised hands and smiles in his direction told him the voice came from that one table close to the gardenias, and it was Fudou’s voice; his suit looked unique, and he bothered to brush his hair that day; Kazemaru noted while walking up to the table.

“Hey.” He greeted everyone there. He looked to catch a smile from each one, first Fudou, who was standing already and offered a short hug. Then, there were Midorikawa, Afuro, and Fubuki smiling to him, he got a handshake from the first two and a kiss on his hand from Fubuki, always charming when drunk, some averted their stares and others just laughed, used to him. On the other side of the table were Someoka, Gouenji, Kidou and Kiyama.

“ _It’s been a while_.” he and Gouenji said at the same time when shaking hands. Fubuki almost fell off his chair laughing (did not, because Afuro managed to hold his shirt collar), but only he and Kidou did this time.

“We were speaking about the new rules the national football committee is making up.” Someoka pointed out when Kazemaru finally took a seat.

“I was speaking about snowballs!” Fubuki intervened, Afuro pressed his lips to suppress a smile.

“I’m sorry, it was a bad metaphor.” Midorikawa whispered to him, seeming truly ashamed by that.

Kazemaru thought that it was nice. Everyone was suppressing smiles and even laughs. A long time had passed since the last time they were all together, planning on meeting again when they all became part of the national professional league.

Except for Afuro, of course, but he was usually around when you least expected him to be.

 

* * *

 

 

It was getting late, and Kazemaru was still on his second glass of champagne.

Endou and Natsumi just shared their compromise rings (again), acting a ceremony during lunch. Since they were going to marry for real on their second wedding. They were taking their time to speak with everyone personally, table by table, person by person. Kazemaru’s table took them a lot of time. But when they finally let the “newlywed” go, Kazemaru looked around. Rococo was sharing a table with the families, and most girls were sharing another table close to the house. But Aki was nowhere he could see her.

So he said he’ll go to the bathroom.

But, even though he looked around all the tables, there was no sign of Kino being there. He texted Kiyama, saying Mr. Raimon needed his help with something inside the house, so he’d take a while longer. And then, he went inside the bush maze. Because for some reason, even when no one lived there, they had a maze. “ _Rich people_ ” with that, Kazemaru shrugged off his thoughts and began to count the roads. He didn’t want to get lost.

It took him four dead ends and getting lost one time, to get to see her.

He guessed that was the middle of the maze, there was another fountain, smaller than the one in the garden. But surrounded by more flowers. It had a statue of the goddess of victory. When Kazemaru stepped inside that “room” Aki looked up at him. She smiled, and there was no signs of her having cried or anything like that.

Kazemaru offered a smile too, the most gentle he could manage, and went to sit beside her.

“Hey. Why are you here?”

Although Aki didn’t stop smiling, she looked down to the side, undecided.

“I can’t say I needed a bit of fresh air, right?” Kazemaru denied with his head “But, I did need a bit of space to breath, you understand that.”

“Of course I do.” Kazemaru looked at the water, stars were reflecting on it already “It’s hard being put aside.”

“Ha,” she tried to sound bright “I never stood a chance against her.”

Kazemaru wanted to tell her it wasn’t so, that it surprised everyone when Endou and Natsumi decided to make their relationship public, remind her that Kazemaru was just as shocked as she was back then. And even, as much hurt. But that wasn’t true, was it? Aki spent most of her youth trying to call his attention, and Kazemaru just wanted to befriend an amazing guy like Endou, before he got to discover his own preferences. Then, he just coped up with it, and Aki was still doing so.

At least…

“I understand.” he assured “But, now that he’s taken by someone else, do you have something against it?”

“No, I believe Natsumi-san will try her best to be a good wife.”

“So...” since she wasn’t lying “Ichinose-kun couldn’t come today, huh?” at that, she blushed.

“With only two days, he had no chance of getting prepared and flying here on time.” they looked at each other “But there is another chance, right?” Kazemaru nodded.

“It’s better if you don’t feel alone when you face them.” he stood up and offered her a hand, the second round of pictures and the cake should be around that time and it was better if no one wondered where they went.

Aki stood beside him, but then she seemed to realize something.

“You have someone, Kazemaru-kun?” Ichirouta rubbed his own nose a bit.

“Maybe,” he used that moment of confusion and took her hand to begin walking back to the gardens “or maybe not.”


End file.
